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When Ann Goldstein set about translating the work of the little-known Neapolitan novelist Elena Ferrante into English, she never imagined that her translations would be thrust into the international spotlight.

Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels — four books chronicling the lives of two women from Naples, Elena and Lila — have gone on to sell millions of copies and become New York Times bestsellers. Now they're being adapted into a 32-part television miniseries, picked up in part by HBO. Filmed in Italian, and shown with English subtitles, the first show to look out for will be called “My Brilliant Friend,” after one of the four literary works.

While the novels are a good read — rife with love and sex and violence and the mob — what hooked me is how Ferrante writes about language and dialect. Italian literature professor Olivia Santovetti calls the novels “a commentary on the linguist history of Italy from the 1950s until today's time.”

This week on the podcast we explore that linguistic history and the tensions between Italian dialects and the lingua franca. Plus, you get to hear World in Words co-host Patrick Cox sing in his best Italian accent. You don't want to miss this.

Credit:

Wikipedia

Podcast Contents:

00:00 Last summer Nina became obsessed with Elena Ferrante.

00:23 Ann Goldstein, Ferrante’s English translator never expected the novels would go as viral as they have.

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